Exodus in targeted province

Tribune news servicesCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Streams of civilians jammed into cars and trucks Wednesday to flee the militant stronghold of South Waziristan as the government pounded the area with airstrikes ahead of an expected ground offensive against the Taliban along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

Bombing runs over suspected militant hide-outs have sharply increased in recent days after a string of attacks on military and civilian targets killed scores of people across Pakistan.

The army, which gave no time frame for the offensive, has reportedly already sent two divisions totaling 28,000 men and blockaded the region.

Fearing the looming offensive, about 200,000 people have fled South Waziristan since August, moving in with relatives or renting homes in the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan areas, a local government official said.

The exodus intensified with the increase in airstrikes in recent days.

In new bombing Wednesday afternoon, military jets pounded a cave in the Spinkai area, killing eight people, officials said.

Local tribesmen said the victims were all civilians, including three women and three children, who had abandoned their home and fled to the cave to seek shelter from the heavy shelling.